Extra Chapter 2: Book of Wei
My name is Wei Shu. My mother told me that my father named me this in the hope that I would study a lot, because everyone says that "a person with knowledge and learning naturally exudes elegance." They hoped that I would grow up to be a graceful and refined young lady.
From a young age, I lived with my mother in Yuezhou.
Although my mother and I had no worries about food and clothing in Yuezhou, I was always very sad because our family seemed different from other children. Their parents were always by their side, but I only had my mother with me.
Because it was just my mother and me at home all year round, there were bound to be some rumors around us. They said that my mother and I were probably mistresses and illegitimate children.
At that time, I was still young and did not know what "concubine" and "illegitimate child" meant, but looking at their malicious eyes, I could keenly sense the malice contained within them.
So, I would always go home after arguing with those people, and throw a tantrum at my mother, saying I wanted my father. But my mother would always say to me with a sad face that my father was too busy to live with us.
At that time, I didn't understand, nor did I know why my mother said that. Since my father was very busy, we should just follow him. No matter where we were, as long as our family was together, that was enough. Even if it was bitter, we could still taste a bit of sweetness.
After all, harmony in the family brings prosperity in all things.
But my mother just smiled at me after I finished speaking.
She said.
They're still just kids.
When she said those words, her eyes were filled with emotions I couldn't understand, but I knew that although she was smiling, she wasn't happy.
So, I rarely mentioned my father to my mother afterward, because I didn't want to upset her.
But I would always secretly run to the local temple outside the city to pray to the local earth god, hoping they could contact the earth god on my father's side and tell him that my mother and I missed him very much.
Days passed by like this.
...
Later, when I was nine years old, two very elegantly dressed old women came to our house. They looked at me with undisguised malice and mockery on their faces.
That same day, I learned why my mother always looked that way when I mentioned my father, why others always looked at my mother and me with those eyes, and what the "illegitimate child" they were talking about was.
It turns out that her father was a high-ranking official in the capital, and he and his wife were childhood sweethearts, a young couple that everyone envied.
It turns out that I was born out of wedlock, and my mother was my father's mistress in Yuezhou, a vixen who ruined my father's relationship with his wife.
That year, His Majesty sent my father to Yuezhou to suppress bandits. He unexpectedly met my mother and fell in love with her. Later, when the bandit suppression was over, my father had to return to the capital, but he could not take my mother with him. He was also reluctant to sever this ill-fated relationship, so he secretly raised my mother in Yuezhou.
Now that the truth has come out, that lady has sent someone to fetch my mother and me to the capital.
...
In that grand mansion in Beijing, my mother and I met my father.
My father is still as tall as I remember him; I always have to look up to see him. However, he is also not quite the same as I remember him.
My mother was very happy to see my father, even though our courtyard was small and dilapidated. My wife set rules for us every day, and she was happy because she could see my father often.
but……
To be honest, I don't like Beijing.
The sky in the capital seemed heavy, always looming over the square courtyard walls. The mansion was also very quiet, so quiet that it felt like I would be committing a mistake if I made a sound.
When we were in Yuezhou, my father would always hold me in his arms with a smile, while my mother would always watch us with a smile. But in the capital, I could only kneel on the ground, respectfully greet my father, and stand quietly to the side, watching my elder brother and sister play with him.
All of this is because I am an illegitimate child. As an illegitimate child, my status is even lower than that of a servant of the lady of the house. How could I be qualified to play with the master of the house?
I don't like them calling me that, even though I am an adulterer.
I wanted to go back to Yuezhou, but when I mentioned it to my mother, she, who was always very gentle with me, flew into a rage for the first time. She hit me and said that I was willful, had no filial piety, and was an ingrate.
My mother slapped me hard, and my face was swollen for many days. During those days, I stayed in the house, thinking about why my mother was unwilling to go back to Yuezhou with me.
I think and think, I think and think...
Three days after being beaten, I finally understood. My mother loved my father, so she wanted to stay by his side forever, even though he now saw her as a stain on his relationship with his wife, she was unwilling to turn back.
But I don't like my father because he allows the servants in the manor to call me an adulterer. He's the head of the family; wouldn't it be easy for him to stop the rumors? So, from the day the servants started calling me an adulterer, I stopped considering him my father.
But I never imagined that I would lose my mother as well.
but……
So what? I gave my mother a choice.
So, from that day on, I abandoned my mother and decided to return to Yuezhou on my own.
...
The journey from Yuezhou to the capital is short, taking only a few days, but the journey from the capital to Yuezhou is long, taking me several years to complete.
My first target was my elder brother, because he always had a fake compassionate look on his face. He would scold me when the servants called me an adulterer, he would say a few words of perfunctory advice when I was punished to kneel by the madam, and he would bring me medicine after I was teased by my elder sister.
Everyone says that the eldest son of the Zhang family is the kindest-hearted, and he has a very good temper even towards illegitimate children.
But I know he's not like that.
If he were truly kind-hearted, he should have used swift and decisive measures to shut up those gossipy servants and stopped my elder sister from teasing me. But he didn't do that. His actions were merely for show, not only useless to me but also pushing me into an even more unpleasant situation.
Since he wanted to use me as a pawn, I naturally had to accept some compensation.
Doesn't he want to always be seen as a virtuous and kind-hearted gentleman? I'm going to tear off his mask.
So I pretended to be moved by his actions, lowered his guard, and gradually entered his heart, making him even dare to defy public opinion and commit adultery with me.
Seeing him lost in lust, I felt extremely pleased, but also extremely disgusted.
However, I did act impulsively in this matter—I should have returned to Yuezhou first before exposing it, so that I wouldn't have been sent to that godforsaken place, the Jiangzhou Jiaofangsi.
But that day, I really couldn't bear it any longer—my mother... she actually wanted me to fulfill the lady's wish and become a concubine for that纨绔 (playboy) of the Lin family.
At that moment, I felt a chill run through my body, and I felt like a lowly object, bought and sold. So, I devised a plan to have all the servants in the Zhang household witness our intimate act.
The lady was furious and immediately had my mother beaten to death with a cane. I was also secretly sent to the Jiangzhou Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment institution) to be supervised by the Zhang family of Jiangzhou.
...
On my way to Jiangzhou, I secretly ran away. Everything was going smoothly until, unfortunately, I ran into Xiao Yunyan.
It must be said that the military officer was indeed not very bright. When the servants of the Zhang family told him that their young lady had gone missing, he became very enthusiastic and found me hiding in the mountains in less than half a day.
The opportunity would not come again, so I was sent to Jiangzhou under strict guard.
So, from that day on, in addition to the Zhang family, I also hated the Xiao family.
As a sinner of the Zhang family, how good could my life be in Jiangzhou? It was worse than death. I thought of ending it all several times, but when I heard others talking about the achievements of Zhang Mingyuan of the Zhang family and Xiao Yunyan of the Xiao family, I forced myself to hold back.
If you're going to hell, how can you not bring a few enemies with you?
...
Whether it was divine intervention or not, I encountered Dao Ying. He told me that I had once saved him and that he wanted to repay the debt. I smiled and said to him, "I'm going to kill someone."
He nodded and said he was willing to help me.
He found an opportunity for me, and I seized it, successfully catching His Majesty's eye. He even overruled public opinion and bestowed upon me the title of Consort De.
It's funny, but my elder sister didn't marry the man she loved. Instead, she entered the palace and was made a Consort. I still remember the expressions on my wife's and elder sister's faces when they saw me. It makes me chuckle, and I often revisit those expressions.
My elder brother also sneaked into my palace on the day I was made a concubine. He used some tricks to make me pregnant with his child. I was also a pawn in his game.
Everything went smoothly after that. I successfully framed the Xiao family and dragged the Zhang family into that mess as well. The only thing I was not satisfied with was that Dao Ying became increasingly disobedient.
He actually said he wanted to take me away. How ridiculous! The world is so big, where could I possibly go?
But I know that he is definitely the most useful knife in my hand, and all he wants is my body, which I can certainly provide.
But I didn't expect him to be serious. On the day of Zhou Yu's coup, he led me to escape from the capital.
For a moment, I was moved, but it was only for a moment.
Because Xiao Jiangsheng quickly captured the two of us, I knew that if he caught me, I would not escape death. However, the Zhang family was now deeply embroiled in the vortex, and the Xiao family had been wiped out. I had no unfulfilled wishes in this world, so I deliberately did not hide and even intentionally let Xiao Jiangsheng capture me.
I never expected that Dao Ying would take a blow for me. The top three assassins of the Shadow Pavilion died silently in the wilderness.
...
I was captured by Xiao Jiangsheng and taken back to the capital, where I was imprisoned in the imperial prison.
The cell was so cold. Even though it was already summer, I was still shivering from the cold. So, when the guards weren't looking, I stole a tinderbox and set the dry grass beneath me ablaze at sunrise the next day.
The fire burned much faster than I expected, engulfing the entire cell in the blink of an eye. The smoke was so thick I couldn't open my eyes; it was very choking.
As I lay dying, I looked at the small window on the high wall in the distance. Although my eyes were blinded by smoke, I seemed to see a fiery red sunrise.
If there is an afterlife, I want to live a good life...
—End of extra chapter—
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